Vilsack to Senate?

Published by James O'Toole on Friday, 08 February 2013 1:25 pm.

Pittsburgh hasn't had a senator since Rick Santorum lost to Bob Casey. Before that, our last senator was John Heinz (unless you count Orrin Hatch, born here, Pitt law '62, before he headed west to Utah) but maybe that could change next year. The Des Moines Register's respected Iowa Poll found that the state's voters cited Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack as the most appealing of a handful of potential candiates of both parties to fill the seat being vacated with the retirement of the veteran Sen. Tom Harkin. Mr. Vilsack was raised in Squirrel Hill and graduated from Shadyside Academy. The former governor of Iowa has yet to express any public interest in the possibility, but J. Ann Selzer, who conducted the survey, told the Register, "This is the kind of poll finding that launches campaigns.''

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